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Wall Street, the next day, hadreports of Beaufort's situation They were not definite, but they were hopeful It was generally understood that he could call on powerful influences in case of eency, and that he had done so with success; and that evening, when Mrs Beaufort appeared at the Opera wearing her old smile and a new emerald necklace, society drew a breath of relief

New York was inexorable in its condeularities So far there had been no exception to its tacit rule that those who broke the law of probity must pay; and every one are that even Beaufort and Beaufort's ould be offered up unflinchingly to this principle But to be obliged to offer them up would be not only painful but inconvenient The disappearance of the Beauforts would leave a considerable void in their conorant or too careless to shudder at the moral catastrophe bewailed in advance the loss of the best ball-rooo to Washington He aiting only for the opening of the law-suit of which he had spoken to May, so that its dateTuesday he learned froht be postponed for several weeks Nevertheless, he went home that afternoon deter The chances were that May, who knew nothing of his professional life, and had never shown any interest in it, would not learn of the postponement, should it take place, nor reants if they were er put off seeing Madas that he , when he reached his office, Mr Letterblair met hied to "tide over"; but by setting afloat the rumour that he had done so he had reassured his depositors, and heavy pay, when disturbing reports again began to predoun, and its doors were likely to close before the day was over The ugliest things were being said of Beaufort's dastardly manoeuvre, and his failure promised to be one of the most discreditable in the history of Wall Street

The extent of the calamity left Mr Letterblair white and incapacitated "I've seen bad things inas bad as this Everybody we knoill be hit, one way or another And ill be done about Mrs Beaufort? What CAN be done about her? I pity Mrs Manson Mingott aswhat effect this affair may have on her She always believed in Beaufort--she made a friend of him! And there's the whole Dallas connection: poor Mrs Beaufort is related to every one of you Her only chance would be to leave her husband--yet how can any one tell her so? Her duty is at his side; and luckily she seems always to have been blind to his private weaknesses"